Nikon D800 Pre-Orders from Amazon.com Slip to January 2013

Those who ordered a Nikon D800 the day it was announced from Amazon.com may have to wait almost a year for delivery. That’s according to Amazon.com order updates sent out to eager Nikon D800 buyers yesterday. Amazon.com sold the Nikon D800 and D800E as pre-orders beginning February 6, but shut down pre-orders February 7. Amazon.com apparently sold out of its initial Nikon D800 allocation and didn’t want to disappoint customers by keeping them on a wait list for an extended period.

That’s right. Amazon.com waited nearly a week to let customers know that their cameras wouldn’t ship for nearly a year.

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We now have delivery date(s) for the order you placed….

“Nikon D800 36.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)”

Estimated arrival date: January 04, 2013 – January 08, 2013

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So what’s the big deal? Amazon.com shoppers like myself placed orders with the expectation of getting our hands on the D800 sometime in the near future. I can certainly understand if I don’t receive the Nikon D800 March 12, the day it officially goes on sale, but it sure would’ve been nice to know this so I could seek out alternatives, such as putting my name on a list at a local dealer before a week’s worth of D800 buyers did so.

The estimated Nikon D800 arrival date is especially troubling to me because it looks more like a shot in the dark than an honest to goodness estimate. Taking a look at my Amazon.com D800 order shows that the estimated ship date is December 31, 2012. Is it possible that Amazon.com’s that precise or is is it more likely that Amazon.com simply shoved off the ship dates to the last day of the year out of convenience? I seriously doubt that the January 04, 2013-January 08, 2013 estimates are accurate considering nobody probably knows Nikon’s D800 manufacturing cycle that far in advance. Amazon.com appears to have sent out a blanket email that will probably cause many, including myself, to seek out alternatives.

As I noted in an earlier article, I appreciate the fact that Amazon.com shut down Nikon D800 pre-orders, but they should have done so sooner and communicated with early buyers in a timely fashion.

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Amazon.com typically provides excellent customer service and handles hot items responsibly. The pre-order process for the Nikon D800 looks like it’s shaping up to be a disaster. Amazon.com needs to provide realistic and accurate updates to its customers. Am I just a hair outside the group of photographers getting the first batch? Tell me and I’ll wait for the second or third batch. Have no clue when my D800 will ship? Then tell me that and cancel my order for me.

The Nikon D800 is an amazing camera that targets a demographic of photographers that will likely buy it whenever they can get their hands on one. But there’s no reason for Amazon.com and other D800 sellers to take these photographers for granted.

Here’s a Nikon D800 movie sample that sold me on the camera.

Hopefully I’ll be able to shoot with a D800 sometime this year. Until then, I’ll be relying on my Nikon D700 and Nikon D7000. This snafu has me considering alternatives ranging from not buying another Nikon this year to seeing if I can save my pennies and get a D4 instead.

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Have you ordered a Nikon D800? If so, where from and have you received any kind of solid ship date? If you’re on a Nikon D800 wait list do you know how many people are ahead of you?

Update:

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It appears this whole thing is a glitch in Amazon.com’s system (I hope). Amazon.com only offered standard shipping during the Nikon D800 pre-order period. I edited my order and selected one day shipping. Magically, the Nikon D800’s ship date changed to March 21, 2012. Apparently Amazon.com will be sending my Nikon D800 via FedEx or UPS rather than having a guy swim all the way from Thailand with it in a dry bag.

If you’re Nikon D800 order is delayed into 2013 I suggest adjusting the shipping method. I still don’t have 100% confidence that I’ll receive it on March 21, but I feel a lot better than I did when I first read Amazon.com’s email.

7 Responses

Got email yesterday from amazon (Nikon d800e estimate arrival date January 03, 2013) once I updated the shipment method to one day, date changed to March 21, 2012.
I think they have scripts problem on the site. The d800e is due in April.

I too recieved the message that my camera would be available in January 2013. I called and they confirmed January 2013! I tried switching it to next day shipping and bingo it will now be here 9 months earlier. ???

Another one with the same experience. Changed to one day delivery and its now March 21st. But that even appears suspect since Nikon says it won’t ship the 800E until April. This is so unlike Amazon and I wish they would clarify their position on this. I too will seek alternatives, but since I ordered mine 7 minutes after it was announced, I don’t want to get off the Amazon list.

Sounds very frustrating. It’s comments like yours that are making me think that Amazon has no clue when the Nikon D800 and D800E will actually ship. The local (San Francisco) dealers I’ve talked to told me that the D4 has a hard ship date, but the D800 / D800E are “late March” deliveries according to Nikon.
I’ll be really happy if my D800 shows up on 3/21, but I’m not counting on it. I’ll be putting my name on other lists I guess.